Sugar
by artanimelover
Summary: She was a protester. This was what she did. When being outspoken lands Kagome in a sticky situation, and the only one who can come to her rescue is her haughty and stoic lawyer Sesshomaru, Kagome can't help but wonder; How will she ever survive prison?
1. Chapter 1

**Sugar**

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><p><strong>I make no profit from this story. All credit goes to Rumiko Takahashi.<strong>

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><p>She was a protester of sorts. This was what she did, her job, her life mission.<p>

"We've lived thousands of years without machines!" Kagome screamed, thumping her foot against the cement of the side walk, "We can go another thousand without fault!"

"We've gotten so used to electricity doing everything for us," Her opponent responded, equally as harassed, "What makes you think we'd want to give that up now?"

Kagome stomped and pointed at the man in front of her, outraged, "I just bet you'd be one of the ones who'd think that, huh?" She growled out, indicating the mans rather large gut, tucked unceremoniously into suit pants, "I bet if you did any real-mans work, that wouldn't be there, now would it?"

"Are you calling me fat?"

"If the shoe fits!"

The man opposite her, who stood about three inches taller, with a comb over and a suit that said, "Dress to Impress, if you've got the money," took a step toward her, raising his fist above his head in a complete show of dominance that looked utterly foolish to Kagome.

Their argument was abruptly broken off by the police, who had been called out to investigate. A tall man wearing a uniform attacked Kagome's opponent, whilst a female with a police badge and hat pinned her arms painstakingly behind her back. "Hey!"

A third cop called out to their audience, looping one thumb into his pants and waved they're crowd away, "There's nothing to see here, folks, get back to what you were doing."

Yes, She was a protester of sorts, Kagome was. This was the life she'd chosen. To stand up for her beliefs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sugar**

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><p>Three hours later, and she was released from the Kyoto police department with the sixth black stain on her record, thirty hours of community service, and an angry lawyer by the name of Sesshomaru.<p>

She sighed as she was escorted down the street and around the block to the café that had become theirs. Yoi Kibun café was rather small and dimly lit, but it served it's purpose and soon Kagome and Sesshomaru were seated opposite each other in a booth to the side, nearest the window that held the blue neon light that read the name of the little café.

With a growling stomach, Kagome waited for the chubby, chummy face of Kaede-obachan, the owner, and favorite waitress who never questioned why the couple made a trip there nearly every week, and ordered some Udon and rice.

It was only after Sesshomaru asked for a cup of Coffey and the waitress had left, that he started the lecture. "Kagome, this is the last straw. Myoga-Sama said that one more public nuisance on your part will land you in jail. Is that what you want?"

Kagome shook her head, her eye's alight, "Of course not, Sesshomaru! You baka, who on earth would actually _want _to go to jail? Beside's, I don't see what the problem is." She muttered, a pout on her face as she crossed her arms. "It's not like I'm hurting anything. Maybe changing a few opinions, but it's not like I'm out there killing people or abusing animals. Compared to those things, what I do is positively humane."

Her opposite pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Kagome, you broke into Jii-Sama's work to steal files on Naraku."

Kagome nodded enthusiastically. "So you see my point?"

Sesshomaru opened his mouth to retort, but stopped short as Kaede reappeared with their order. Setting down the black Coffey before Sesshomaru, and the Udon and rice before Kagome, she laid two cups of hot chocolate in the middle of the table, both smothered to the brim with marshmallows.

"Thought you could use a little picker-upper." Kaede smiled, "On the house, child."

"You're the best, Kaede-obachan!" Kagome dimpled up at the old woman. "Thanks so much!"

Kaede turned back to the counter without a word from Sesshomaru in gratitude, and got back to her work.

"That was rude, Sesshomaru." Kagome quipped.

"I did not ask for hot chocolate." Her opposite returned.

With a sigh of indifference, Kagome dug into her rice.

Sesshomaru watched haughtily as his companion ate her food. Really, it was strange. The girl ate with more exuberance than his half brother, who's been reduced, on more than one occasion, to a pile of blubbering mess by the end of his meal.

He had met Kagome two days after her graduation of Kyoto high, and he probably wouldn't have, had he not been contacted to defend a girl in court for public disturbances. He later learned that he was called only after she had been warned five times not to cause another scene. She had gotten off easy only because she was a shrine woman, a woman of holy reverence who belatedly spoke her mind. Now, instead of being known as Kyoto's most famous shrine's heir to the Priestess name, Both she and he were recognized throughout the media as the Protesting Priestess and her Demon Guard Dog.

"I can not defend your honor if your in jail, Kagome, and I can only keep you free for so long."

His opposite huffed in annoyance and mumbled around a mouth full of food, "'Death heeds no mind to outspoken souls.'"

Quoted airily, Sesshomaru huffed in remembrance of Totosai, his half brothers watcher who had once come in search of him when Inuyasha had run off. Totosai was a renowned swords master, prophecy teller, would-be monk, and now a baby-sitter to his twelve year old half brother, and upon seeing Kagome only a second, he had grasped her face in his hands, eyes widened beyond what they normally were, and uttered that cursed phrase. Now, every time Sesshomaru dared argue with Kagome about what she was doing, she only served to repeat the words that made him want to rip the hair out of his own person. "That is no excuse for being placed in a prison, Kagome."

She shot him a haughty look, "Like there aren't people out there going through worse?"

"That maybe so, Kagome, but just because you meet someone on the street who is a little bit less fortunate than you, doesn't mean you should jump over the railing of normalcy."

"Give me another definition of normal, Sesshomaru, because if normal means that you pass by a homeless person and hide your purse full of change you'll never use, then that doesn't sound so good to me!"

"You can not think of everyone!"

"I can't just think about me, either!"

"Are you naive?" Sesshomaru growled, slapping his hands on the table and standing up so as to tower over her, much like the man she had argued with earlier tried to do. He had paled in comparison to Sesshomaru's wrath. "If you get jail now, you'll get a few days, but days turn to weeks, weeks to,"

Kagome laid her chopsticks down and put on her best Sesshomaru face, accenting his deep, stoic resolve as she interrupted him, "'Weeks to months, months to years, years to life. And if you get life, there's no helping it! Your headed down the path strait to death row and you don't even care!" She looked at him. "Yeah, I know. You can read me the riot act after you sit down and quit harassing everyone around you."

With a huff, her opposite settled into his seat and took an aggravated sip of Coffey. "Sesshomaru, you must know by now that I can't quiet down. Everyday I hear another story about how poorly animals are treated before they get turned into chopped sui, how children are beaten and abused and left for dead and nobody even bats an eyelash unless it's their kid, how people are getting worse pay, failed job interviews, harassed, just because they're of another race, or religion, or sex-preference, or whatever, and I can't stand it!" She blinked back tears and took a sip of hot chocolate, "Watashi o yurusu."

Sesshomaru sighed. "There is nothing to forgive, Kagome, so do not apologize. I only wish that you were capable of thinking of yourself more."

"I do think of myself, Sesshomaru." She whispered. "All the time, I think, 'I hate myself', because I have so many nice things; a roof over my head, clothes on my back, friends, family." She blinked up at him, and his heart leapt at the tears in her eyes. "And there are people in this world with nothing; who die alone, and I hate myself."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sugar**

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><p>Kagome walked up the steps to her shrine at a leisurely pace, the cool wind whipping elegantly through her hair feeling nice after the warmth of escapee tears. With a sigh of reverence, she sat at the very top stair, pulled her knee's to her chest, and hid her face.<p>

There wasn't a lot that shamed Kagome. She'd pulled crazy stunts off without a moments consideration, spoken outlandishly to the highest authority figures in Kyoto without a second thought, stood up to the most proudly demeaned without a care in the world; But crying in front of Sesshomaru was not supposed to be an option.

Show a weakness in the eyes of pure, unadulterated authoritive prowess, and one might just get eaten alive. She was just lucky enough to get out of Yoi Kibun with her dignity mostly intact.

"Kagome?"

The girl in question did a quick once over and then stood up rigidly, her hand tracing frantic tears away. "Shippou?" She watched at the eight year old that stood before her lifted a measuring cup gently.

"Mamma wanted me to borrow a cup of sugar, but if your busy..." Shippou peeked up at the woman cautiously, as if afraid she'd burst into a shower of adult emotions that he wasn't quite capable of understanding yet.

Kagome smiled despite herself. "No, no, Shippou. It's perfectly fine." With a pat of red hair, Kagome led the boy the rest of the way to the shrine and into her shabby kitchen. Fetching the sugar from the cupboard, and pouring him a little over a cup of the white sparkles.

"You know what my dad says, Kagome-chan?" Shippou asked, leaning against the counter and tilting his head of red fluff, his big green eye's sprinkling mischief.

Kagome dimpled at the boy. "What's that, Shippou-kun?"

"My dad say's that Sugar and Salt and Pepper are all siblings."

"Oh?" Kagome asked, an eyebrow rising questioningly.

"Yup!" Shippou nodded and leaned toward her across the counter, willing to share in his fathers secret. "But Salt was always real jealous of his sister, and Pepper was always jealous of her brother."

"And why's that?"

Shippou gave her an exasperated look. "Because!" He intoned, "Salt could never taste as sweet as Sugar, and Pepper was never going to be as favored as Salt is."

Kagome frowned at her neighbor. "And what of Sugar?"

"Sugar was always sad." Shippou whispered, drawing a circle with his finger on the counter, "Cause no matter how hard she tried, her family was always going to be angry with each other over what they couldn't change."

"Poor Sugar." His elder whispered back.

"Yeah," Shippou muttered. "Poor Sugar." The wide eyed boy perked up almost instantaneously. "Well, thanks for the Sugar, Kagome-Chan! Mamma will like it a lot."

"Oh, it's fine, Shippou." Kagome smiled down at the boy. "You come back, now if that isn't enough, Kay?"

The boy nodded and skipped out of the house, leaving behind a twenty two year old with a hangover that had nothing to do with an alcohol or drug. She frowned after Shippou.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sugar**

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><p>"It's funny," Kagome told Sango the next day. "He's to wise for a kid. I feel like I'm a hundred years old, and a thousand years dumb compared to him."<p>

Sango frowned at her friend across the round table of Yoi Kibun as Kaede set a platter of Rice Balls in the center. "Thank's Kaede-obachan." She told the old woman before turning back to Kagome. "Kagome, Shippou's eight. How wise can he be?"

With a sigh, Sango's opposite reached for a rice ball. "Alright, maybe it's unconscious, but he makes you think about things. Like seriously _think_."

"Uh-Oh," Sango smiled bemusedly, "When Kagome Higurashi's mind changes, you know something's wrong."

"Oh, ha, ha." Kagome rolled her eyes. "Very funny. You know, it may not happen often, but it's not impossible."

Sango looked at her friend. "Alright, then, how did the Wise-oh-Wonderful Shippou make you seriously _think_?"

"I'm like Sugar."

"Huh?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Sugar**

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><p>Sesshomaru growled out a warning to the offending lawyer across from him.<p>

"You're honor, She spoke her mind, there is no law that contradicts the right to freedom of speech." He monotoned to Myoga. "No matter how many people the attention attracts, that right is still intact."

"Your honor," Kagura Onigawa reprimanded, "She caused a public scene, and harassed many people in the process."

"Not by choice, mind you." Sesshomaru argued back, "She could not control the answering of her opponent, who should, I think, be the one on trial here."

"Naraku Takumi has just as much a right to defend his beliefs as Ms. Higurashi, you're honor."

"My client was only expressing herself!"

"And my client was only responding to being threatened!"

Myoga, for all the good it did him, could come up with nothing to defend Kagome in this case, the sweet heart that she was. Maybe had it been a few bad marks on her permeant record earlier, he could have given her another warning and community service, but his kindness could only go so far without being blemished. "I'm sorry, Sesshomaru." The old flea demon frowned, removing his glasses and setting them aside. "I've done all I can for Mrs. Higurashi. I'm afraid that this is the last straw."

"Your honor!" Sesshomaru jumped from his chair, slapping his hands on the table in front of him, shock breaking through his stoic demeanor. "This isn't fare, Your honor! She was only–"

"Enough, Sesshomaru." The judge stopped him. "I'm sentencing her to six months in the Kyoto State Prison. And thirty three hours of community service."

"But your honor!"

"Sesshomaru, I'd say that I'd been very lenient on your client, most would argue that I'd been lenient to a fault, wouldn't you say?" Sesshomaru nodded, albeit angrily. "Then you'll have no problem understanding why I have to do this. Kagome's a good kid, who only needs to learn to think before she speaks. My sentencing stands. I pray to Kami that this teaches her what other's couldn't."

It was only sheer willpower, and Sesshomaru's extreme belief that he was above the dictative roodness of throwing himself across the room and smacking the smirk off of Kagura's face that kept him from doing so. So instead he bowed his head to the only judge who'd ever earned his respect in court and left the room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sugar**

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><p>Kagome frowned down at the table that currently occupied her and her lawyer at Yoi Kibun. "Well," She muttered, disbelief marring her features, "I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later."<p>

"Kagome." Sesshomaru sighed, deigning to reach across the table to grasp her small hand in his clawed one.

"No, Sesshomaru." She lifted her head and forced a smile that was to toothy to believe. "It's alright. I'll be fine," Her eyebrows lowered over her head. "Really."

"It's only six months, Kagome." He brought her hand to his lips and left a kiss of comfort there. "It'll be over before you know it."


	7. Chapter 7

**Sugar**

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><p>Shippou sat on the top step that led to Kagome's shrine, feeling the breeze through his shaggy cropped head as the sun beat down on him. Kagome had gone to meet Mr. Big Bad Lawyer Man for lunch about half an hour ago and hasn't come back yet. He really wanted to play with her.<p>

The sun was warm against his skin and he grinned happily when a butterfly landed with genuine agility on the crest of his arm.

It was nearing evening time when his mom came to get him, tears in her eyes, though she smiled happily.

"Mamma?" Shippou asked, concern marring his boyish features.

His mom smiled sadly at her son and sat beside him on the step. "Kagome-Chan's gone on a little vacation, Honey." She told him.

"She did?" Shippou asked, his eight-year-old heart breaking. "For how long?"

"'couple of months," His mom replied, pulling her son in close. "She'll be gone for a couple of months."

"She wouldn't have gone without saying bye," He frowned. "She always told me everything. We're best friends."

"It was last minute, sweety." She told him, brandishing a key from her pocket. "But she told me to tell her best friend to take really good care of Buyo."


	8. Chapter 8

**Sugar**

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><p>Kaede frowned down at the table that was usually occupied by her favorite costumer. Kagome was a sweet child, one that Kaede would do anything for if given half a chance. All she could do was pray that she got the chance to see her again.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

**Sugar**

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><p>He was empty, and most certainly not expecting this. Sesshomaru, cold, stoic ex-Lord of the West, had never felt so lonely than when the cage door to his clients cell closed her off from him. And even though he knew that, if he just reached through the spaces between the bars, he could still hold her face in his hands, she felt so distant. As he watched, her face closed off of emotion before his very eyes. She was no longer the Kagome he knew. It was all he could do not to rip through the metal of her cage and carry her away to safety.<p>

Good gosh, what had the girl done to him?


	10. Chapter 10

**Sugar**

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><p>A single tear saw it's way down her face as she heard the sickening snap of the lock on her cell as a guard came in to deliver her to the cafeteria, and she felt as if she were back in high school. No adult used the term 'Cafeteria' anymore, unless of course, you were trapped in a boarding school for adults.<p>

In a sick way, Kagome couldn't help but muse over the brochure for a boarding school like that would look like. A big red brick, nearly disinigrated building over looking a sunset over the beach? Possibly with a logo that said, "Join us, for the best disciplinary system money can buy!"

And as she stood in line, holding her tray, and a female in baggy blue scrubs that read, "Prison" on the back of the shirt cut in front of her, Kagome vowed that this wouldn't take away her spirit. She refused to let it. So, with redemption, her emotionless facade crumbled and she tapped the girl on the shoulder, "I was in front of you, you know."


	11. Chapter 11

**Sugar**

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><p>'<em>A riot broke loose in the Kyoto Prison this morning at around 9:00 AM. Police are hesitant to permit us who started the riot, but were willing to share that it started over a place in line for food in the cafeteria. Three were stabbed by smuggled weaponry, and one guard, by the name of Bonkotsu Lee, was killed.<em>'


	12. Chapter 12

**Sugar**

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><p>Sesshomaru rushed into the hospital, taking a left at Baby Care, and a right at Diseased Bed Ridden, until he came across a desk that was to white to be comforting.<p>

He slapped his hands down on the desk, startling the little woman sitting at it, "My name is Sesshomaru Tanaka, where is Kagome Higurashi?"

"Relationship, Tanaka-sama?" She inquired delicately.

"Lawyer."

With a nod she gave him the room number, "My name is Rin, come back if you have any trouble finding her."

Sprinting down the hall Rin directed him through, Sesshomaru sighed in relief when he saw the number he was looking for. With the overwhelming smells of the sickly, and the nearly toxic smell of disease and sanitation to keep company, Sesshomaru had been forced to rely only on sight alone, but nothing could stop him when he found Kagome sitting alone on a hospital bed, white bandages littering her arms and across her abdomen. Two shallow cuts made their way across her cheek and it seemed she had a busted lip. Every one of his five senses were on high alert, and all directed toward the woman in front of him.

"Kagome?" He whispered, walking swiftly to her side. "Are you alright?"

The girl in question nodded and looked up at him, and he was fearful of the tears in her eyes. "Yeah, I am."

"What happened, Kagome?"

A shaky laugh escaped the bubble of her throat, and Kagome leaned forward until her head rested between her knees over the side of the hospital bed. "It was all my fault he died, Sesshomaru. Bonkotsu died stopping her raiser before it could cut me." She held her face in her hands. "And I didn't even get in trouble!"

Sesshomaru sat on the bed beside her, wrapping an arm around er petite form. "What do you mean, you didn't get in trouble?"

When she spoke, Kagome's voice sounded disgusted. "They said that my little stunt revealed a long line of smuggled weaponry, and makeshift weapons that have been hidden for nearly a year now. They said that they were _grateful_ to me."

Without a word to say in comfort, Sesshomaru pulled her onto his lap and held her until her grief was all but a whisper.


	13. Chapter 13

**Sugar**

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><p>"Kagome, you have to promise me you'll be good from now on." Sesshomaru told her as he walked her back into prison territory. "It's more dangerous here than it is out there. In here, speaking your mind will get you killed."<p>

"Then I'll have died without a regret." She responded. "Sesshomaru, relax a little, will you? It's been a month, and I'm still alive."

"If only for the sake of a miracle."

"Which just proves," Kagome elbowed her lawyer in the side, "That Kami is on my side."

With a 'Hnn' of distrust, Sesshomaru opened the door for her, but she turned around and pecked him on the cheek before entering, "Sesshomaru, I'm a protester. This is what I do."


	14. Chapter 14

**Sugar**

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><p>Shippou entered the house with his mothers key and opened the pantry to fetch the cat food. Buyo trotted up to the small boy in all his fatty glory and rubbed his face around Shippou's knee.<p>

"Where's your mommy, Buyo?" He asked, stooping low to pat the cat's head. "I miss her."


	15. Chapter 15

**Sugar**

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><p>With two cups of hot chocolate in her hand, Kaede walked to Kagome's favorite seat and set them before Sango.<p>

"Thanks, Kaede-Obachan." Sango whispered.

"It's fine, Child." The old waitress muttered, turning around and walking back to the kitchen.

"Kagome's going to be fine," Sango muttered. "She can handle herself." But even to her ears it sounded as if she was convincing herself.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sugar**

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><p>"<em>Hello?<em>"

"Oh, thank god, Sango."

"_Kagome, is that you? Are you alright? Gosh, you had me so worried_!"

"I know. I had me worried too."

"_So what's going on? How long before you get out of there?_"

"Sesshomaru said that they're thinking of extending my release date."

"_What? Can they do that?_"

"Apparently, they can. He's fighting them tooth and nail, though."

"_Oh, Kagome! When you get out, I swear I'm going to wring your neck for getting in there in the first place!_"

"After last night, Sango, you wringing my neck won't seem so bad."

"_What happened last night?_"

"Prison Ward Ceremonies. I've been here three months, so the other delinquent took it upon themself to celebrate the anniversaries... You know how they say that violence is never the answer?"

"_Yeah..._"

"In here, it's not only the answer... It's a party."


	17. Chapter 17

**Sugar**

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><p>"You're honor, you can't do that!" Sesshomaru argued. "Upon the date of trial, my clients release was scheduled for the seventeenth of April, where she will henceforth commit to her thirty three hours of community service."<p>

"Ms. Higurashi insulted my client along with half the general population of Wakdonalds, Your Honor, and my client is not satisfied with the testimonies."

"With all due respect, Your Honor," Sesshomaru growled, "It's not Mr. Takumi's privilege to decide this. He needs to learn his place, and that place is not with you and the Jury."

"Naraku Takumi is a victim here, your honor," Kagura returned, "And Justification of the wrong that his client has committed is in order."

"Your honor, what greater punishment for speaking one's mind is there, then being taken to prison for such a mild act?"

Myoga frowned down at his paper work.

"Your honor," Sesshomaru continued, seeing the conflict in the judges eyes and taking the chance that presented itself, "Kagome Higurashi has been injured on several occasions whilst staying in Prison, she has been equally if not more than as harassed as Naraku Takumi claims to be, and all for the sake of being an outspoken girl. One might say she's been through a lot more than she deserved throughout this entire ordeal."

"Objection!" Kagura shouted standing up. "Your honor, Ms. Higurashi brought prison upon herself with multiple black marks upon her permanent record and over seven different accounts of Public Disturbances, one account of assault with a deadly weapon," Kagura trailed off her list as Sesshomaru interrupted her.

"Your honor, a womans purse can turn deadly in a moments notice, so why, prey tale, is it that only _my_ client gets assault with a deadly weapon for it? She was only protecting herself from a mugger, is that really a crime?"

"Well," Myoga frowned, "No, I suppose not."

"Your honor," Kagura began again, "The fact here is that Ms. Higurashi has done wrong and there needs to be a justification."

"Honestly, Kagura," Myoga frowned at the woman, "If I were in Kagome's shoes, I'd have reacted the same way to Naraku Takumi. There isn't a soul out there who wouldn't react badly to his insistent egotism. One can not be blamed for instinct."

"Your honor!" Kagura gasped.

"However," Myoga turned to Sesshomaru. "Most people live through life with only one or two markings on there records, it is severely disappointing that Ms. Higurashi is still so young and has more than most fully grown adults."

"Yes, Your Honor." Sesshomaru intoned.

"My sentencing stands."


	18. Chapter 18

**Sugar**

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><p>"Really, Sesshomaru, I'm fine. See?" His client grinned goofily at him. "And I'm only one month away from being released!"<p>

"Kagome, your entire arm is encased in plaster." Sesshomaru frowned down at the woman and rubbed his thumb along the rigid end of the cast.

"Like I said, Sesshomaru, I'm fine. This is nothing."

"A fractured elbow is not nothing, Kagome. That is an incredible something."

"They were celebrating." She looked him dead in the eye. "My three month anniversary. Who am I to fault them a celebration?"

Kagome pulled her arm away from her lawyer.

"And you just took the beating without an argument? That is not like you, Kagome."

This time, when she looked at Sesshomaru, Kagome's face was curved into a seductive smile that chilled the lawyer to the bone. "Sesshomaru, I'm a protester, So of course I returned everything they dealt with room to spare."


	19. Chapter 19

**Sugar**

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><p>The sun was shining high as Kagome worked, building muscles she didn't know she was capable of building. She made quick work of the pick ax, lifting it high above her head, letting her gloved hands slide down the handle as it cracked a rock into pieces.<p>

What she really needed to do though, was pee. In a bathroom that didn't smell as if it hadn't been cleaned since it was built. Kagome was only glad that she had one week left.


	20. Chapter 20

**Sugar**

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><p>Shippou smiled at his mother as they hung the banner across the roof of the front porch of Kagome's shrine.<p>

Balloons littered the mass of the inside, and scattered soothingly over the front lawn.

"She'll be back any day, now, Honey." The boys mom told him, stealing a kiss from his cheek.


	21. Chapter 21

**Sugar**

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><p>Sango and Miroku walked down the street to Yoi Kibun to deliver the good news to Kaede. As they passed a clothing boutique, Sango stopped and stared at the red and black kimono in the window. "Miroku, Baby, give me your wallet."<p>

"What for?" Miroku asked, pulling it out and handing it to his girl friend.

"Kagome's welcome back present."


	22. Chapter 22

**Sugar**

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><p>Sesshomaru looped Kagome's arm through his as they walked out of the prison together. Now a free woman, Kagome couldn't wait to get out there and finish what she started. Naraku, it seemed, was more than just a freeloading corporate of Onigumo Industries, a company that specialized in everything from make-up and hair sprays, to robotic animations, even going so far as to ensure the public, "Complete and utter happiness with our products, or your money back."<p>

Kagome was the first to stand up to them, up to Naraku Takumi, and because of that, he hated her. The way she saw it, if he took her down, he would have to fallow.


	23. Chapter 23

**Sugar**

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><p>"Your thirty three hours of community service, Kagome," Sesshomaru started as they sat at Yoi Kibun for the first time in six months, "Where do you want to spend it?"<p>

"At a library." His opposite responded without a moments hesitation. That would give her all the research she needed.


	24. Chapter 24

**Sugar**

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><p>Standing before Myoga, Inutaisho, and Muso, three of the greatest and most powerful judges in all of Kyoto, with Sesshomaru at her side, Kagome presented her proof that Onigumo Industries was not as great as everyone believed.<p>

"Naraku Takumi has been ushering in smuggled drugs from over seas through that company for nearly seven years. I have five witnesses willing to testify against him, all of them holding grudges. Hakudoshi and Moryomaru Takamura, Byakuya Zangetzuha, Kyototsu Daisuke, and Mukotsu Tetsu-Inada.

"Kikyou Noriko, secretary of Naraku Takumi, is willing to hand over date books, email recipients, and phone logs, as well as hand over files that Naraku had requested over the years.

"Well done, Kagome." Myoga smiled. "We'll take care of the rest."


	25. Chapter 25

**Sugar**

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><p>'<em>In other news, Onigumo Industries have hit an utter stand-still as police search through the buildings for a newly discovered <em>drug scandal_. With five witnesses to testify against him, Naraku Takumi, C.E.O. of Onigumo Industries is facing fifty- to life in the Kyoto State Prison.'_


	26. Chapter 26

**Sugar**

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><p>Walking up her shrine steps, Kagome smiled at Shippou, Sesshomaru, Sango, and Miroku, who've yet to leave her side since she's been back. She turned and sat on the top step, patting the place next to her until Sesshomaru gave in and sat with a, "Hnn."<p>

"I guess this is where it gets boring, ne?" Kagome smiled, reveling in the sunlight that told her she was free.

"Hnn."

"Sesshomaru, thank you." Kagome laid her hand on his knee. "You've done so much for me, and I've only ever been a pain."

The stoic lawyer regarded her carefully before pulling her hand to his lips. "I am only glad that you are alright now."

She leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled.

"Kagome Higurashi, you bitch!"

Jumping from their seats, Sesshomaru glared at Naraku Takumi, who stood at the bottom of the shrine steps angrily.

"Naraku?" Kagome asked, taking a tentative step forwards before being stopped by Sesshomaru.

"Kagome-Chan, what's going on?" Kagome heard Sango call out from the front yard where she was playing with Shippou.

"Oh, it's fine, Sango, just a cat is all."

Naraku narrowed his eyes. "You've ruined my life, you bitch. You just had to stick your nose in where it didn't belong, didn't you?"

"Naraku," Kagome turned back to him, "You were using a powerful company for your own sick joys, if I didn't stop you, no one would."

"That's right." Naraku's grin turned feral. "It's your fault they're shipping me to prison first thing tomorrow."

"Just as it was your fault that I was shipped to prison." Kagome's eyes narrowed. "I have to say, I think I'll sleep better at night with a person like you locked away."

"Bitch." Her opposite sneered, reaching a hand into his coat and pulling out a pistol. "You'll pay for what you've done."

Eyes widened fearfully, Kagome took a step back, Sesshomaru growling at Naraku and placing an arm in front of Kagome to keep her safe.

When the shot rang, however, and Kagome fell, his growl took on a sickening howl of pain, and her friends rushed to her side.

Yes, she was a protester.

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><p><strong>This story is dedicated to everyone who's not afraid to speak their minds. Don't ever let anyone hold you back, and always stand up for what you believe in.<strong>

**~Artanimelover~**


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